Michael Jackson biopic Michael has laughed off a series of damning reviews to make an impressive box-office start.
The film, which stars Jaafar Jackson as his uncle Michael, grossed almost $40 million in U.S. theaters on its opening day, Friday. Deadline reports it will to make between $90 million and $100 million over the weekend.
That would give Michael the second biggest domestic opening weekend of the year, behind the $131 million banked by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, but comfortably ahead of the $80 million made by Project Hail Mary when it debuted in March.
The musical film has been heavily criticized by reviewers, many of whom claimed that the film “whitewashed” Jackson’s legacy by ending its story in 1988, years before multiple child sexual abuse allegations against the singer emerged.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critics’ score of just 38 percent at the time of writing – a “Rotten” rating indicating that the majority of critics gave negative reviews.
However, the audience score, voted on by members of the public, indicates a resoundingly positive reception, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting a 97 percent “Fresh” rating.
While it is possible for these numbers to be manipulated in a process known as “review bombing”, other audience-feedback platforms similarly suggest that the controversial film has received a warm welcome among the general public.
On IMDB, the film, directed by Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua, has an aggregate rating of 7.6 out of 10. The film-based social media site Letterboxd, meanwhile, has seen the movie earn an average rating of 3.6 stars out of 5, with most ratings between 4 and 5 stars.
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In a one-star review of Michael for The Independent, critic Clarisse Loughrey wrote: “The draw of Michael, Bohemian Rhapsody producer Graham King’s turn at the life of the King of Pop, isn’t the desire to understand Jackson as a person or as an artist, or to grapple with the weight of his legacy as one of the most pivotal cultural figures of the 20th century.
“It exists to be consumed as an act of allegiance, as proof of fandom. It resists story in favor of content, in making sure fans see what they expect to see, whether that be the ‘Thriller’ video or ‘Bad’ performed live at Wembley in 1988.”
The film is in theaters now.
